Back Up ES 500 noise and slight smell

[Anonymous user]

Today, when I came home I heard a slight whining from my kitchen where my computer is kept. I have my Back Up ES 500 UPS in a cabinet along with a fan to keep air circulating and though the fan may have started making noise but found it was the UPS. My computer was powered off and the UPS was not making the normal beeping sound when there is a battery problem. I also notice slight smell from the unit. My wife didn't think it was a burning smell but I'm not positive.

I unplugged the unit, turned of the power switch then plugged back in and turn it on. Now, it's making a constant beeping sound and the green light near the power switch flashes on and off.

I will order a new battery if that is all that is wrong, but I was a bit worried about the slight smell and didn't want to order a battery if the UPS is somehow damaged. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark

[BillP · Accepted solution]

hi mark,

can you tell us the exact model of the UPS, on the back or bottom of the unit on a little white sticker? is it BE500U? I ask because the LED indicators differ by model.

for now, i'll assume BE500U. I pulled up the user's guide, which for some reason is not on apc.com but the unit looks like you see here. i attached the user's guide to this post.

looking at it, constant tone and power LED flashing indicates replace battery. so, a battery is a good guess. if not, you could return the battery and look into trading that unit it in towards a new one and get a discount. APC also will give you a return label to recycle your old unit. [here is some info on that|http://buy.apc.com/commerce/storefronts/tradeups/tradein.aspx?storefrontcode=apcetu&countrycode=us&t...] but battery is my first guess too, per the user's guide.

not sure on the burning smell. if its an older unit and an older battery, it may have began to smell a tiny but when it was put on battery.